An Adventurer in Uummannaq

 

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live above the Arctic Circle? Chris Paton,
a 35-year-old English teacher and adventurer, has lived in Uummannaq, on an island in northwest Greenland, for four years.

What is life in Uummannaq like?
It is a very challenging life here. It’s often impossible to visit the doctor or other important services because of the weather. Also, there are only a few roads in Uummannaq because the ground is made of rocks.
And many of the houses don’t have running water. Food is also a problem. People here eat a lot of fish,
of course- in fact, the first thing people notice when they arrive here is the very strong smell of fish.
But every year, we run out of food (especially cheese, yoghurt, fruit and vegetables) in April.
The last ship that supplies us leaves in November, so we need to store a lot of food over the winter.
That explains why everybody has at least two freezers, which sounds crazy when you live in the Arctic.
The winter is especially hard because we don’t see much sunshine. In December and January,
we only have one or two hours of light.

What is the Greenland lifestyle like?
An important Greenlandic tradition is the ‘kaffemik’- a social gathering which takes place around a cup of coffee.
Greenlanders love drinking coffee, but kaffemik is really about talking to each other,
sharing news and making small talk. So you shouldn’t drink your coffee too quickly!

Is there anything else that you can tell us about life in Greenland?
You can’t expect people to be punctual because of the weather, so they visit you when they can.
Everybody has problems because of the weather. For Greenlanders,
the weather and the environment are really important: they are close to it, they eat it, and they live it.